we will be taking your phone calls, e-mails and tweets. , liveth anniversary friday evening beginning at 6:00 eastern on c-span 3 american history tv. ofouncer: next, university missouri talks about the school response to racial tension and protests. mr. middleton was appointed by the school after tim walz, the previous president resigned amid accusations of mishandling accusations on campus. this is just under hour. >> is good to see you and all the other guys, too. [laughter] as many of you are well aware,

the university of missouri system primarily is flagship challenging times during the fall of 2015. after the resignation of then president tim walz and the reassignment of then chancellor bone loft and. to take the role as interim president of the u.s. system. men's after ihree returned as deputy champ to for 17 years. the university of missouri and i have a long history together. i attended and you as both an undergraduate and a law student and met my wife julie of 45 years. and i'm happy that she is here with me today. graduation in 1971, i got my dream job as a trial attorney

in the civil rights division of the department of justice. went on to the lawyers committee for civil rights under law. and then served in management capacity at the department of health education and welfare, the equal employment opportunity commission, and the department of education. so i feel pretty much at home back here in bc. to my him a moderate in 1985 as a law professor. then transitioned to the role of interim vice provost for minority affairs and faculty development. and then deputy chancellor sure thereafter -- shortly thereafter. i have a strong love for that institution and i made it very clear that, under my tenure as president, i want to see real change, both for the good of the great university that we have, but also so that i can get back to enjoying my much too short

retirement. [laughter] and full disclosure, it is important to provide a little background on what caused what i call the perfect storm. in november, there was a culmination of issues that arose that previous spring the challenged the leadership on the campus. media's near total focus on racial issues and the actions of the enemy of football team, there were several other factors that contributed to the turmoil. there were concerns surrounding the prospect of graduate students suddenly losing their health benefits. there were really difficult and connected toions our hospital relationship with planned parenthood. our faculty had expressed a lack of comfort about their academic freedom. and leadership on the campus.

controversial leadership changes. acknowledging these other factors simply provides a context for what we've recently experienced. it certainly does not diminish nor lessen ourof desire to better understand and address the concerns that have been expressed by our students of color and other minority was students. the problems our university faces in this area are real. fact, the universities nationwide are facing the same problems, as is our nation as a whole. november, i've actively participated in a national surrounding campus race relations. i met with leaders at the department of education, the american council on education, the association of governing

as well as the national association of system heads among others. dialogue is crucial to the future of higher education and it must continue as we plan for our future generations. i find it very interesting that, based on a recent survey of university presidents some leaders in higher education don't feel that their campuses are faced with the same racial tensions. the survey shows that 84% of presidents characterize race relations on their respective campuses as excellent or good at describetime, only 24% the state -- the state of race relations at colleges and universities nationwide as good and none describe race relations at colleges nationwide as excellent.

obviously, a large proportion of administrators feel the problems we have been facing at missouri could never happen on their campuses. conceivable that that may be true for some, the of missouri experienced most recently what could be attributed, at least in part, to some of their sentiments. the prevailing view was that race relations were good, maybe even excellent. but the fact of the matter was that institutionally leaders were not paying attention and they got caught. our students were concerned with race relations on our campus. and felt extremely marginalized. columbia into context, missouri is only 100 miles from ferguson missouri.

an inter-reigning several valves st. louis. and many of our students are from the st. louis area. they were hurting. and needed to be heard. institutionally, we were not listening to these very intelligent students, passionate students, who were telling leaders to wake up. what happened at and you i hope provides an instructional experience, a learning moment, a who leadall for all universities. and the lesson is that leaders must continuously assess their campus climate to ensure that race relations are in fact good or excellent. likely, they are not as good as you think. are realems we face and they need to be addressed and that is exactly what we are doing at the university of missouri as we move forward from the turmoil we faced this fall.

i've emphasized to the university community that we must come together and make decisions in the best interest itshe university, all of students, and that future development of our society. course, patience is a virtue in situations like this. it takes time to rebuild , just ase and trust these problems did not evolve overnight, real solutions will not come quickly. and the past seven months, we have established mechanisms and put processes in place to address the issues, specifically regarding diversity, equity and inclusion issues that we are facing. those initiatives introduced by our board of curators in november include hiring the first ever's system-level chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, dr. kevin mcdonald

started on june 1. and just last week, it was announced that he will have a asl appointment with mizzou their interim vice chancellor for inclusion diversity and equity. in addition, we have ensured that, for the first time ever, each of our four campuses has a chief diversity officer reporting directly to the chancellor. we've created a diversity inclusion and it ready task toce at the system-level develop short and long-term strategies, plans and metrics for the u.n. system waste on an inventory and audit of current programs, policies and practices. we are conducting an in-depth audit working with ibis consulting group that will provide a comprehensive ofessment and inventory diversity, equity and inclusion

, practices and programs and procedures across the u.n. system. focusdit will include groups and interviews, surveys and other data collecting mechanisms that ibis will use to make recommendations to the chief diversity officer and the board of curators that will help focus us to continue to affect positive change on all four of our campuses. we provided additional support for students, faculty and staff who have experienced discrimination and disparate treatment. and we provided additional support for the hiring and retention of a diverse faculty .nd staff as a part of our $2.5 million date, towards these board initiatives, we've allocated $921,000 to conduct a providelimate survey,

additional training for our campus and system administration as well as students, and provide mental health support to our students. we believe we have made significant progress since november, there is much, much more work to be done. i'm optimistic about the progress that we've made and will continue to make. i'm hopeful that our students will have the patience to allow us to complete that work. has its challenges in terms of race relations, just as our nation as a whole has grappled with this cultural, persistent, pervasive problem for centuries. but the challenges that we are ,acing presents the university all of us rid lars, with the unique opportunity.

we have an opportunity to take the lead in developing mechanisms for combating racism and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, to change our culture to one that is more respectful and more inclusive. and what better institution than the university to take on that awesome task? a community of scholars and wide varieties of disciplines the sick -- dedicated to the creation and dissemination of knowledge for the advancement of society. our biggest flaw as a university is that we are notoriously slow in doing what we do. my hope is that we can accelerate our pace. and that the millennial generation will give us the time we need to develop the permanent solutions we so desperately

need. -- as i have met with other higher education leaders nationwide assess encourage them to their campus climate. while they could be that race relations on their individual campuses are indeed good or excellent, there is always room for improvement. the university of missouri refuses to be defined by the events we faced in november and the months following. the unfortunate circumstances that captured so much attention from the world are certainly not a reflection of the whole of our --at 177-year-old

177-year-old university, but rather reflects a long-standing societal flaw. faced with challenges, we have three options. we can let those challenges define us. we can let those challenges ruin us. or we can make the -- let the challenges we face served as growing opportunities. while those challenges are a part of our history, they also have presented us with a unique opportunity that we have embraced. and that is to position the university as a national leader in how we address the social issues of combating racism and promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. the process will be easy. and it certainly won't happen overnight. but we will be steady and productive in helping create a

solution for all of higher education. i thank you for this opportunity and i suppose we now have some time for questions. thank you, sir. we have quite a few questions. mentioned location close to ferguson. why did this happen at mizzou and why not at any other schools with similar racial demographics? mentioned, there were a number of other difficult issues that the campus was facing at oursame time that african-american students primarily were very much concerned about ferguson.

their hometown, their home area. the graduate students were very -- andbout the loss of they said and loss of health insurance. we had just admitted a number of graduate students, some of whom learnedgnant women who that they would not have health insurance once they arrived. kind of a shock. people who need health care. letter, had written a calling for the departure of the chancellor. our faculty was very much concerned about what they viewed as threats to their academic freedom. so the entire campus was in something of turmoil when the african-american students began their protests. .o it was a perfect storm and i imagine that other campuses near ferguson, other

campuses in missouri simply did not experience that perfect storm. tell fromk you can -- the the current concerns over inclusion and equity spread across the country to other campuses soon thereafter, it was under the surface all the time. of -- we had a president of our student body who was a gay, black male, elected by the entire student the nwho had been called duringcouple of times his presidency. he went public. he posted a description of the incident on facebook and it went viral.

so there were several things that happened that pretty much just boiled over and woke us up. his campaign was ignite mizu,. and i think a second campaign was wake up mizu. so these young people knew what they were doing and they did it well. speaking of that, you are a former student activist yourself. what to you think of the tactics the students used to force the ouster of your predecessor? can you compare and contrast your time as a student in 1960's with what we saw on campus there last year? well, they were a bit more sophisticated than we were back havee day your we didn't -- the day. we didn't have facebook and twitter and instagram and the social media. for howan explanation

quickly and how successfully they managed their protests, you can attribute that to social media. they communicate much more quickly and effectively than we did back in the 1960's. the numbers are much greater. we were fairly successful at in -- increasing access. universities, viewed diversity work as improving access, increasing admissions of students of color. so by the time our situation exploded, we had a fairly decent number of students on campus, students of color on campus that we certainly did not have back

in the mid-1960's. so with numbers, with social media, and i think the times have simply changed. this generation is much less the micro put up with aggressions, the indignities that people of color experience in this world. than we were in 60's. so i think that is why it happened. theink they executed principles of nonviolent protests very, very well. there was never any danger on campus. no one was hurt on campus. respectfulirly

frustrationn of with their lived experience on the campus. which is not unlike what we did back in the 1960's. i think back in the 1960's, we probably occupied if you buildings and i think we lost the chancellor out of his office one day. [laughter] but it was pretty much the same techniques. were a few different techniques, its aims. what are your views on safe spaces and trigger warnings for students on campus today? are you concerned that freedom of speech is being compromised on campus? >> i don't think it is being compromised on our campus. i understand the call for safe spaces and trigger warnings, but, you know, i am in missouri-trained lawyer and i understand the first amendment and we do have the world's first journalism school.

i cherish freedom of the press. so i -- i think that we should all recognize the rights that we also but we should all understand how the exercise those rights in every situation might make life uncomfortable for people in our community. so i'd like to get beyond the amendmentof the first and those kinds of things and talk about behavior in a civil society. you know, we had an incident gote one of our professors fairly rough with a student member of the press about his

attempt to violate the safe space that our students claimed quadrangle. obviously, our students did not have a right to claim that safe space. but that reporter, i think, could have avoided the incident the occurred had he, like rest of the press that was there, respected the students' desire to have some privacy at that time. it is just the way you assert your rights and exercise your rights i think is another example of discourse that we need to have in our communities. because you can doesn't mean you have to. muching it causes too controversy, it might be wise to consider not doing it. but we are working on campus on some policies to try to better

find that proper balance. the draft that i have seen so far doesn't quite -- it's a bit too legalistic. >> are you saying you would support areas where journalists should not be allowed in some form? >> no, i would support folks who are privacy where they cannot get journalists voluntarily not to come in and covered to go somewhere else. ofn we formed the legion black collegian back in 1966, we made the decision that we simply would not have meetings on campus because we knew that you can't have a private meeting in a public space. so we would go meet at someone's apartment. denytainly don't want to thepress or anyone else

right to attend functions in public places. that it, and because this room is a university property, but i've got a club or a group that would like to have some privacy as we do whatever we are doing today, would you please not come in? doese public or the press not want to respect that request, then it is on me to go somewhere else. i don't want to deny the press access to anything. >> so the public space on university campus space is first amendment protected zone. you have to go to another place, a private place. >> yes. >> you mentioned -- >> i didn't mention her by name.

>> that's true. [laughter] of american university professionals placed the university on the sensor list due to the firing of miss cleft. what is your reaction to this ended the university act properly? >> that's a difficult question. the board of curators voted with a split vote to take that action. the board clearly has the authority to beverly university. and so, yes, they acted properly. i think it was necessary at the the to do something because university was really in turmoil . he did not appear as if that turmoil would die down unless something were done with

professor click. i think it is unfortunate. processes, existing processes and a place for dealing with faculty irresponsibility. members of the board, some thought that those processes should be used before the board took direct action. but the board decided to do what .t did the a aup, i'm not surprised that they censured us. idon't think that is what -- don't think that what the university did had anything to do with dr. clicks academic freedom. they aup couched their sentient in those terms.

but they have a job to do themselves and they did it. we will have to live with it and work to get off the censure list as soon as possible. >> one last question on that subject. dr. click was not a journalism professional -- professor but she did teach in the school. what was your own reaction to her comments and actions? and what you think the university's teaching about the first amendment? >> i thought the dr. click lost control in a very heated situation. she clearly was very supportive of what our students were doing. she sort of position herself as the protector of our protesting students. been,ecall, she had earlier in the day, when she tried to block a reporter's

, the reporter, you know, assaulted her, knocked her did hand -- not to hand down. rather rather reset -- upset by think she just lost control. and it's unfortunate that she did. i don't think it says anything about what our journalism school is teaching about the first amendment. i think your students and our faculty are committed to the first amendment and all the principles that are associated with it. was a very, very hot and difficult situation. and it was very unfortunate that it occurred. >> what's your advice to other university leaders across the country on handling a crisis on campus such as this? >> handle it quickly. handle it transparently. try to understand all perspectives on the issue.

treat all of your people with respect. we are all in this together. on the university campus, i like to think of us as a family. we are all in it together. and we are all here to learn and grow. i think, if we are all honest with each other and listen to ash other and are transparent as we can be in discussing and finding solutions to problems, we will all be a lot better off. >> the ad hoc committee on protests, public spaces, free speech and the press recently released a draft policy on how the university should regulate public spaces, like where last year's protested place. criticize the" policy as too vague. what is your take? >> i only read it once. it's very legalistic. committee is an

esteemed law professor. brief thene like a policy written for a nonlegal to understand fully. so i think it needs some work. or i think it needs some guidelines of that policy to make it marks a civil to all of our students and faculty and staff. -- to make it more accessible to all of our students and faculty and staff. as i recall, it doesn't deviate and ourm where the law current rules and regulations at the university stand. has not evolved into something that would recommend any changes to our standard

policies and collective rules of the university, which are consistent with the current state of the law. so i think we may indeed have to do a bit more work with that draft. several former students. how would you describe your relationship with the student paper? >> i always had a good relationship with the student paper. [laughter] i hope you guys like to me. no, they have been covering me for 30 years now. it's always been pleasant. a student paper ever raking me over the coals. the rest of the local media, sometimes -- well, not that much. i have a good relationship, i think, with the media, particularly "the man eater."

"the post" hasn't hurt me yet. [laughter] >> dangerous question looking at the audience, but a question from the audience is our college -- toos today to called ocoddled? [laughter] >> that's a loaded question. [laughter] but it has crossed my mind. i don't know how this will play. on the race issue, you know, i grew up in the 1950's and 1960's in mississippi. think i grew a very fixed in -- a very thick skin. grandparents, my answer and uncles all caps reminded me that the indignities

that i was sick acted to had -- i was subjected to had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the ignorance of those who are imposing their stupidity on me. up,that i needed to stand keep my head up, and push through it. so at a very early age, i learned something about resilience. i don't know if our young people today have had to learn that level of resilience. you may call that too coddled. i don't think i would characterize it that way. i would just characterize it as having a different experience than the generalizations -- generations before them. it is what it is. what i wouldessing

have expressed when i was in vocally.ition more in fact, i did express it a bit. but at every time. it wasn't every time something happened to me. willing to just less the kind of experience that we have all experienced. >> it's been reported that applications are down at the university of missouri, with enrollment prospects of freshmen in the fall being described as grammar earlier this spring. linked to has been the discord on campus. what can you say on the problems ? on campus are they are -- are they affecting enrollment? >> i'm sure they are. best not the only thing. high school graduation rates in missouri have been down.

we have been predicting a decline in enrollment this year for a long time based on the demographics. adjustedng states have their scholarship can programs and admissions policies. are expecting a decline in out-of-state enrollment. we do a lot of young people from , overis, the chicago area the past five or six years. that is down. but you can't deny that people's perceptions of the problem at missouri is having an impact on our enrollment. and it is grim. i think the campus is predicting something like a 30 million -- rejecting a $30 million shortfall in tuition for next year. you know, that carries through for four years when you're entering class -- when you're

entering classes that small. i think we will get over it. i am optimistic. we have been around 177 years. we have been through problems and ups and downs over that time span. and we generally come back stronger. get confident that we will these diversity, equity and practicespolicies and in place. we will change the perception of our campuses. and we will be much better for it. >> do you think that will hurt you over time? is there a way to counteract the perception may be that last students,test had on high school students potentially looking at your school? is there a campaign you are planning to do to counteract that? >> yes, we have communications people working on that. you got to get the word out. the positive and

minimize the negative and that kind of thing. we will be doing that. but we can't gloss over it. and i don't know that the target is the students as much as it is their parents. i think that parents are going to be a harder sell. i am a parent. i would worry about sending a child to a place that i thought was a violent and in total disarray. is the university of missouri columbia campus is not violent and is not in total disarray. it's interesting. i talked to members of cs 1950 and other students who were involved in the protest. and uniformly, they say they loved mizu. their goal was to make izu

noter, not to destroy mizu, as aaracterize mizu horrible place to be. i had an interesting meeting with some recent graduates, , in kansas city right after the incident started. they had some high school students, very bright high school students who were committed to coming to mizu, but who were second-guessing as a result of the incident aired so we met in kansas city. it brought a two to my eye. to hear the testimonies of those african-american graduates. many of them are -- many of them journalists, by the way. they said, yeah, we experienced the same things that the current students are complaining about. but that was a minor part of our experience at izu. mizu.

i had the time of my life at mizu. i am.ade me go i incurred all students to attend mizu. so we have a great deal of support from alums like you guys. outou can just get the word , the people with whom you interact, that would be very helpful in turning this thing around, turning it into a positive. >>. let me follow up on that. specifically, have the recent events affected diversity ensued soon applications and also in faculty recruitment? don't think -- i have no evidence that it has affected faculty and treatment. and i think the impact on minority students is about the same as the impact on majority students.

i don't think there is a racial or ethnic component to the concern about sending your young person to mizu. it's affecting everybody. >> when you started off, you were speaking in vague terms about coming out of retirement to take this position. how long do you expect to be in this position? >> i expect to be in this position until the board of curators finds a replacement for me. [laughter] that's what i committed to doing. they are involved in a national search as we speak. i hear the search is going as well as searches go. i expect i'll be here until december/january, if

the search is successful. if the search is not successful, i hate for them to have to find another interim president. so i will probably stay around a little longer. campus aboutue on equality has been largely centered on racial asians. what is the university doing -- .acial relations what is the university doing to improve? >> we have a number of social justice units on campus that are very active. the lgbt community is well represented. of theid, the president missouri student association last year was a gay black man. so he was pretty big on intersection analogy -- intersectionality on those issues.

chancellor's diversity initiative for several years. for example, they produced a very comprehensive calendar of religious events for various try to help faculty and students and administrators understand about scheduling and that kind of thing. so we are doing things and we will -- we will expand those activities. that's why we have this audit going. it's a very copperheads of audit to look at everything we are doing that is diversity and inclusion-related. and the cdo that we recently hired has a great deal of experience in the breadth of diversity questions. gaps in what we are doing, we will fill those gaps.

but it's my impression that we are trying our very best to address all of the issues. not any duty job because there an so many of them -- not easy job because there are so many of them. but we are trying to address all of them. is there a possibility of seminars or sensitivity training or something like that on the campus? >> yes we have had some of that already in the past seven months. some training on implicit bias and that kind of thing. it's not like the university was doing nothing prior to this explosion. we were doing quite a bit. again, a perfect storm. so even if you are doing something, this could happen.

-- how big of a problem is sexual assault on campus and off campus, both reported and underreported? >> i think it is unreported, underreported, and certainly a major problem. two or three years ago, we invested a lot of work and attention to study -- to setting up mechanisms to manage that situation, designating confidential advisers. we hired a title ix coordinator who's got the authority -- we hired several investigators to investigate complaints. that was our first explosion that didn't get quite the public attention that our race issues got.

that was maybe three years ago. crisis response to that sort of sets the stage for what we are doing here. when it hits you, you've got to quickly,t transparently, and hopefully affectively. and i think we've done that with regard to title ix. and sexual assault particularly. >> a few off-topic questions. someone in the audience wants to know -- and the 21st century, has a liberal arts degree become outmoded? no, i don't think a liberal arts degree will ever be outmoded. i think we in our society need a of ouroad understanding

culture, everything we do, our literature, our art, our music. the humanities are extremely important to a well-rounded civil society. a lot of people want to talk about the university as a trade school, producing people for jobs. it's true that jobs are in the stem fields now. but i don't think that makes a liberal arts degree outmoded. i think students ought to pursue what interests them and i think universities ought to have programs, degrees the satisfy those interests. >> we've been talking a lot about columbia today. has threesity system other campuses. what is the climate like at those campuses compared to that at columbia?

>> i did not have the kinds of explosions that we had. so i have to say, in regard to diversity and inclusion and climate is somewhat better. but not perfect. st. louis and kansas city have some significantly higher minority populations in their student bodies. i think they are a bit further ahead on these issues than we are. be because they have achieved something close to a critical mass of students of color. so those students feel probably in st.ore comfortable louis and kansas city. in st. louise city and kansas city are much more diverse than in columbia.

so you have something in the city that makes students of color film are comfortable. city, ah more rural science and technology and diversity primarily, they have issues. but i have not heard own discomfortof extreme by the students there. they are busy with all that scientific stuff. [laughter] >> you talked about the ferguson effect on last year's events. what about these longer-term racial history in the state of missouri which was a -- state and also the home to the start of the dred scott decision?

>> missouri has been a hotbed for centuries. it's reflected in missouri with regard to what happened at the university. we have some very progressive people that are supportive of the students and what happened. they are eager to make the change. we have a lot of people who feel that it was out of control. i heard phrases like the animals running the zoo. angry, peopleter, oevver the fact that this happened in the first place. so, you have a variety of positions in missouri. as i think missouri has had since the beginning.

since the civil war, when brothers were fighting brothers, this situation is a continuation. a continuation of that fundamental flaw in this country. allrows out of declaring people equal, and endowed by their creator with inalienable rights. the black people were held in bondage. we haven't worked our way out of that dilemma in centuries. what you are seeing at missouri, and college campuses across the country, is a reflection of that tension. a reflection of that imperfection in our union. we need to find a solution.

as i said, what better place to do that then at a university? we are supposed to be and intelligent community of scholars committed to finding solutions. so, that is what we are trying to do. in missouri, it is right in the center of the country. it is part of the missouri compromise. , back wheni, kansas we were -- to go back to football -- back when we were in the big 8, we had a rivalry with kansas. inl, for a person of color theouri -- go back to origins of that conflict -- i am on kansas's side. that is where we are.

so, we have got to reconcile these differences. we have to come together, as a university, and a state, and move forward. >> before i ask the final question i have a few announcements. quick reminder that the national press club is the leading professional organization for journalists. free pressr a worldwide. for more information, please visit our website. that is press.org. i want to remind you of some upcoming programs. the labor secretary will join us tomorrow. on june 30, christopher hart will adjust the club. on july 14, admiral mike rogers the director of the national security agency will speak at a luncheon. to present our

guest to the traditional press club mug. [applause] saved the toughest question for last. one more, and in very honest terms, how do you expect mizzou's football team to do this fall? of knowing. way atere are those th prognosticate about football of the time. i just enjoy watching it. i don't make predictions. [laughter] >> we have a new head coach. he is a very good guy. we have a relatively new athletics director. i don't even know how recruiting is going. so, i respectfully have to decline from making any predictions. although, in my heart, in my soul, i know we will do well.

[laughter] >> go mizzou. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you to the national help club staff for their putting today's program together. we are adjourned, thank you. >> on newsmakers this weekend, our guest is republican

congressman jeb hensarling. to replacet efforts the dodd frank financial regulation law. he also shares his thoughts on how the federal reserve is currently operating. watch the interview at 10:00 a.m. on c-span. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] >> you realize this is something i would not only love to do, but that i think could be really different from the kind of books that were written about macarthur in the past. and a way in which to reevaluate who this person was, what his real significance was, what his virtues really were that made him the most adored and adulation figures in american history. also, what were his flaws and the things that made him, in many ways, unpleasant and hated? institute, hudson

senior fellow looks at the life and career of douglas macarthur. >> i think that is one of the things that you have to say. he saw the future more clearly often that he saw the present. was america's war in asia, the rise of china, the split between china and the soviet union. the fate ofs, american domestic politics. >> tonight, on c-span's q&a. secretaryducation john king testified on the implementation of the every student succeeds act. theas asked about rulemaking process and the prophecy where federal funds are designed to supplement state resources. this hearing was held by the house education and workforce committee. it is just under two hours. chairman kline: the committee

will come to order. welcome back, mr. sec terry. for joining us. when we last met, the process for implementing the every student succeeds act was just getting underway. we had a healthy discussion about the reforms congress passed. reforms are designed to return local control over k-12 schools. that is not just my own personal view. it is held by lawmakers and principles who recently wrote succeeds actudent is clear. education decision-making now rests with states and districts. the federal role is to inform those standpoint. the wall street journal editorialized that is -- it is the largest and a quarter century. the reason for this hearing, and is tontinued oversight, ensure the letter and intent of the law is followed.

that includes holding your department accountable. when you are with us in february that you can trust we will abide by the letter of the law as we move forward. and is a strong statement one of several commitments you made that the department would act responsibly. actions speak louder than words. in recent months we have seen troubling signs of the department pulling the country in a different direction. is thest troubling sign rulemaking process itself. there are a number of concerns about the integrity of the committee, including the makeup of the panel. the lack of representation. processthe rulemaking is to build consensus among those directly affected by the law. it seems they decided to stack the deck. the second troubling sign surrounded long-standing policy that federal funds are supplemented and not supplanted. this rule was applied differently depending on how low

income students were served. some schools faced more onerous requirements and other facet last year, congress decided the rule would be enforced equally across all schools. now school district show that distributed fairly without prescribing a specific approach or outcome. the law explicitly prohibits the secretary from interfering if that is precise -- yet that is precisely what your proposal would do. the proposal would be both illegal and harmful to students and communities. it would impose a financial burden on states. school district would change how they hire teachers. this effort is trying to achieve an end congress deliberately rejected. clearoes beyond a language reading of the statue. no doubt you have good intentions. but you do not have